What is "consistories"

Consistory \Con*sis"to*ry\ (? or ?; 277) n.; pl. Consistories. [L. consistorium a place of assembly, the place where the emperor's council met, fr. consistere: cf. F. consistoire, It. consistorio. See Consist.]

1. Primarily, a place of standing or staying together; hence, any solemn assembly or council.

   To council summons all his mighty peers, Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved, A gloomy consistory.
   --Milton.

2. (Eng. Ch.) The spiritual court of a diocesan bishop held before his chancellor or commissioner in his cathedral church or elsewhere.
   --Hook.

3. (R. C. Ch.) An assembly of prelates; a session of the college of cardinals at Rome.

   Pius was then hearing of causes in consistory.
   --Bacon.

4. A church tribunal or governing body.

   Note: In some churches, as the Dutch Reformed in America, a consistory is composed of the minister and elders of an individual church, corresponding to a Presbyterian church session, and in others, as the Reformed church in France, it is composed of ministers and elders, corresponding to a presbytery. In some Lutheran countries it is a body of clerical and lay officers appointed by the sovereign to superintend ecclesiastical affairs.

5. A civil court of justice. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.

n. (plural of consistory English)